Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Fleetwood Mac’s first concert, Mick Fleetwood talks new band history book

Genesis PublicationsThis Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of Fleetwood Mac‘s first concert, at the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival in London. The band’s original lineup was led by singer/guitarist Peter Green and also featured drummer Mick Fleetwood. Photos from the historic gig are featured in Love that Burns — A Chronicle of Fleetwood Mac: Volume 1, 1967-1974, a limited-edition book written by Fleetwood that will be published September 19.

Mick tells ABC Radio that the main focus of his book is Green, whose guitar playing and heartfelt songs helped catapulted the band to fame in the U.K.

“Love that Burns [is] dedicated to the man that formed Fleetwood Mac,” Mick tells ABC Radio. “And I was at his side, and of course remained in that band since that moment. So it’s really a labor of love in terms of that.”

The book chronicles the band’s turbulent history up until the 1974 arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, although the majority of the tome is concerned with the 1968-1970 lineup of Green, Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and guitarists Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan.

Love that Burns is filled with rare photos and other archival images. It also includes Fleetwood’s candid commentary, as well as recollections from Green, John and Christine McVie, Spencer and various band associates.

“I feel that’s really…lucky that we got all of that cooperative sense in the book,” notes Fleetwood.

Struggling with drug and mental-health issues, Green quit Fleetwood Mac in 1970, the first of many lineup changes the band underwent during the next few years.

Reflecting on Green’s contributions to the band, Fleetwood notes that his memorable songs, including “Black Magic Woman,” “Oh Well,” “Man of the World” and “Albatross,” “became our legacy.”